Admissions

LREI seeks to enroll students who are bright, curious, motivated and who show strong academic promise. The School is committed to creating an environment that is reflective of the wider community by enrolling students from diverse religious, ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds and gender identities. Creating this diverse student body fosters opportunities for deeper cultural learning and understanding.

We Are LREI

Welcome to LREI. We are now, as we have always been, guided by our school's mission. As a truly progressive school community, we never shy away from the challenges and the possibilities of change and growth. It is this bold, experimental, progressive vision of education that continues to inspire and guide the LREI community today. What we did yesterday, what we are doing today, and what we will do tomorrow are all a part of a coherent 14-year experience inspired by our mission.

Academics

Since its founding, the LREI experience has been grounded in progressive principles that shape the design of program in each of our divisions. These principles place students at the center of their learning experiences, call on us to narrow the distance between the world around students and their school experiences, and engage learners in authentic problem solving on a daily basis. Our mission driven approach informs all aspects of our 14-year experience.

Life @ LREI

Our founding ideals of learning that is grounded in experience, inquiry, collaboration, growth and active democratic citizenship inform every aspect of daily life at LREI. LREI truly is a community of learners; it is a place where students, faculty and families come together each day in the spirit of creativity, collaboration and consequence.

Our Community

LREI is a community built on understanding and respect for others. Like New York City, we are diverse in every sense of the word. We are scientists, artists, historians and more. We embody a wide range of interests, beliefs, family structures and backgrounds. We thrive on the unique ideas and perspectives each person brings to the school.

Our LREI Community

Where ideas can grow, where heresy will be looked upon as possible truth, and where prejudice will dwindle from lack of room to grow.

–Elisabeth Irwin

LREI is a community built on understanding and respect for others.

Like New York City, we are diverse in every sense of the word. We are scientists, artists, historians and more. From our Kindergarteners to our twelfth graders, from our math teachers to our cafeteria crew to our Parents Association, we display a wide range of interests, beliefs, family structures and backgrounds. We thrive on the unique ideas and perspectives each person brings to the school.

Our school community is dedicated to social justice and giving back to the wider community. Students in the Second Grade lead the Lower School in our annual food drive for St. John’s Food Pantry. Eighth graders lead workshops within the Middle School based on research and hands-on volunteer work at local nonprofits of their choice, like the Food Bank of New York, Getting Tools for City Schools and the PEN Center. High schoolers travel to a variety of cities around the country to learn how communities are addressing pressing social and environmental issues. This work then informs their responses in our own school and local communities. At its core, LREI helps students discover their passions in the hope that their voices will make differences in the lives of others. Our graduates are leaders on their university campuses because they have learned to be active citizens in their school, city and global communities.

Alumni Spotlight

"One of the best parts about going to school here is the strong sense of community. There’s a real camaraderie within the student body. At Brown, I talk a lot about my close friendships in high school, and most of my friends didn’t have that experience. I don’t know, I think that’s something that developed because of being here. LREI is a very safe environment and everyone feels really free to be themselves and put themselves out there in a way that lets people make closer friendships than you would at a bigger school where you couldn’t do that."